Most Watched Games on Twitch for August 2018

We are roughly half way through the month of August, and here is a preview of how this month is shaking out in terms of viewership on Twitch. Let’s first get the numbers out there and then go over some noteworthy changes.

Game

Avg Viewers

Fortnite

179,000

World of Warcraft

139,000

Dota 2

120,000

League of Legends

100,000

IRL

64,000

Heartstone

50,000

PUBG

45,000

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Seige

32,000

Overwatch

30,000

Grand Theft Auto V

23,000

Monster Hunter world

23,000

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

23,000

Obviously it goes without saying that Fortnite is king of Twitch. If you take a look at the top 10 streamers every week, over half of the list tends to be Fortnite players. Beyond just that, having Ninja play for 90,000-200,000 viewers for the entirety of his stream greatly exaggerates these numbers even more than they already would given the popularity of guys like Daequon and Myth.

While we don’t think anyone is going to catch Fortnite in the foreseeable future, we do think Dota 2 is going to make a push over then next month. First, they have a consistent base with 120,000 average viewer, and no big superstar that is dominating a share of those views. Secondly, Dota 2 has their $30 Million international on the horizon. This is the biggest eSports tournament in history, and will likely end up close to 20x higher than the largest Fortnite tournament of 2018.

The eSports Effect on Twitch Viewership

If you needed proof that professional gaming still drove Twitch viewership, look no further than the PUBG vs Rainbos Six: Seige numbers. Few could imagine that Rainbox Six would have not only closed the gap on PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds, but had several higher single viewership days over the course of this month.

The reason of course is the viewership for the Rainbow Six competitive tournaments which are averaging well over 150,000 viewers. PUBG struggles to get any competitive viewers, and does much better on aggregate streamer viewership with non-competitive streamers like Shroud, Doc, and ChocoTaco.

Also stuck in the same space as Rainbow Six, CS:GO finds themselves in a position where simply streaming doesn’t provide the sort of content that viewers are looking for. The Battle Royale stream team guys find way more success in their numbers than games like Overwatch, Rainbow Six, and CS:GO which have proven to be better eSports but not the best content in terms of streams.

Predictions for September

We think these numbers will hold up for the rest of August, but expect to see a shakeup sometime in September. Fortnite viewership should dip as kids get back to school, and DOTA 2 as we mentioned earlier is poised for a big jump up with the upcoming International. We still think Fortnite leads for September, but by the narrowest of margins, followed by Dota 2, then WOW, and LoL.

With new content and maps on the horizon, look for PUBG to jump back into the top 5. PUBG has also committed to expanding it’s eSports involvement, and has dedicated $2 million for an upcoming international tournament. Stay tuned at Professional Gaming Life for the latest viewership numbers and analysis on what exactly those numbers mean.